Dems’ oppo research on Romney’s Veep choices

Screen shot from the American Bridge 21st Century website: 2012 GOP Veep MisTakes.

As the GOP presidential convention in Tampa approaches, one mystery of the campaign becomes more and more glaring: Who will Romney pick as his running mate?

In preparation for Romney’s pick, the Obama campaign, with help from its Democratic allies, is drafting a response tailored for each vice presidential candidate. The incumbent campaign has sent out emails to donors and supporters listing the shortcomings, that “Americans need to know,” of potential VPs.

American Bridge 21st Century, a left-leaning PAC, has dug up 1,651 pages of research on former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, senators Bob Portman of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida as well as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan.

The briefings rake over the Republicans’ voting records, proposals, public statements and slip-ups, reported the Associated Press. American Bridge is hosting a website titled: “2012 GOP Veep Mistakes”

Below is a take on attacks, based on the opposition research, that could be lobbed post-convention on Romney’s choice of Veep:

Pawlenty: Cited by the Obama campaign as a “fee-raiser” with a history that “is painful for the middle-class families who lived under his leadership.” Pawlenty is also known as “Romney’s pitbull” thanks to his months of campaigning on Romney’s behalf.

Portman: Blamed by the Obama campaign for the “top-down Bush budget” that has “crashed our economy.” From the Democratic PAC website: “The selection of Rob Portman would be further proof that a Romney administration would just be a more extreme conservative revival of George W. Bush’s policies.”

Rubio: He will be cast as inexperienced. American Bridge 21st Century said: “Once Rubio is revealed to be neither the Tea Party champion or draw for Hispanic voters that Romney is counting on, what’s left is an inexperienced freshman Senator who brings little to the ticket.”

Jindal: Reportedly “had the same issues with secrecy and lack of transparency as Mitt Romney.” In addition, the Louisiana Democratic party said in a press release Wednesday: “Since Bobby Jindal has done such a tremendous job wreaking havoc on Louisiana’s children, working families and teachers, the Louisiana Democratic Party today threw its full support behind Jindal for the GOP Vice Presidential nomination.”

Ryan: Heavily critiqued for his budget cuts and reforms. “With Ryan at Romney’s side, there’s no Etch-a-Sketching Romney’s support for a plan that would end Medicare as we know it, cause seniors to pay more out of their pocket for health care and cost America millions of jobs over the next two years.”